Top 10 Things You Missed in Marvel's What If...? Episode 9

Near the end of the episode, we learn that an alternate universe Loki has gotten his hands on the Mind Stone and is ready to brainwash Nick Fury. But Natasha steps in and uses the cosmic item against the god of mischief. Seeing her wield the staff was a nice bit of poetic justice. In 2012’s “Avengers”, Loki arrived on earth and infamously brainwashed Natasha’s partner-in-crime Clint. She was later forced to fight her friend to free him from mind control. Having Natasha use the mind stone on Loki right after she showed up in the universe was a great callback. At the same time, it was an awesome way for her to secure her spot on a new Avengers team.

Seeing Natasha playfully tease Captain Carter about her dating habits was a great reference to the talk she had with Steve in “Captain America: Winter Soldier”. The conversation between the heroines also has a sneaky reference to another fictional work. When Natasha is bringing up potential suitors, she mentions a guy named Bernard. On “Westworld” there’s a character named Bernard who watches over aspects of an advanced park at the start of the series. Actor Jeffrey Wright began playing this character before he started voicing The Watcher on “What If?”. Since the cosmic being can see over all relaties, he probably caught this “Westworld” name connection.

Although we didn't see much of Gamora’s reality, we were very concerned about what her version of Tony said. During his conversation with Gamora, he mentions a troublesome phrase about armor. The genius makes an extremely similar statement back in “Age of Ultron” right before helping the evil robot come into existence. Fortunately, it’s unlikely to happen in her world. Ultron owes its existence to the mind stone in the MCU. Gamora’s Infinity Crusher is the main reason why the cosmic item won’t be a problem in her universe. And after Gamora’s battle with Ultron, we doubt she’ll let Tony draw up blueprints for the villain without a stone. We can’t see a way for this Iron Man to start a new age of Ultron.

It was unbelievably fun watching warriors from different universes come together to stop one common enemy. And while the Watcher had a near infinite number of champions to choose from, he happened to pick two people who worked together in a similar situation before. There’s a multiversal team in the comics known as the Exiles that is constantly switching up its roster. On one version of the team, Captain Carter and a Western-themed T’Challa fight side-by-side together against weird and powerful enemies. They even have to deal with a group of sinister Watchers at one point. While we don’t know if the Guardians of the Multiverse will have the same enemies, we hope we’ll see Peggy, T’Challa and the rest unite on the show again.

The guardians of the multiverse planned to end Ultron's reign of terror by crushing his Infinity stones. And after they manage to hold the robot down, they seem to succeed. Unfortunately, Gamora didn’t realize that her device wasn’t designed to work on another universe’s stones. Their experience is nearly identical to what happened to the heroes in “Infinity War”. Originally, the good guys intended to restrain Thanos, remove the Infinity gauntlet and then claim victory. But once the mad titan reveals he sacrificed Gamora, Peter attacks the villain and ruins the plan. While Gamora’s mistake may have upset her teammates for a short time, we’re willing to bet there are people who are still mad at Star-Lord for his outburst.

Gamora became one of the most interesting characters on the show with just one sentence. While there are rumors about a lost “Gamora” episode floating online, we’ll focus on details we know. During “Thor: Ragnarok”, Sakaar was a place where warriors could be forced to fight enemies like the Hulk. We’d love to see what kind of crazy opponents Gamora defeated while she was there. And speaking of her triumphs, she has also slain Thanos in the comics. In a shocking reveal, the power-stone carrying Gamora declared that she put an end to the mad titan. It would be incredible to see how she slayed Thanos and survived a gladiator planet. Maybe season 2 will give us the exciting Gamora episode we deserve.

After Black Widow finds an arrow with a copy of Arnim Zola’s consciousness hidden inside, she decides to introduce him to Ultron. She and Peggy work together to get the Hydra scientist inside of the evil robot’s body. The digital representations of the two villains talk for a bit before Zola ends Ultron for good. Their conversation, the scene’s imagery, and conclusion are an interesting mirror to “Age of Ultron”. Shortly after Ultron is born, we see a holographic representation of his consciousness talking to the heroic A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. The villain proceeds to destroy Tony’s loyal assistant before moving to a robotic body. This made it a brilliant dose of karma to watch Zola delete Ultron and walk away.

When the Guardians first confront Ultron, Strange creates a storm of hammers. During the chaos, Captain Carter grabs a hold of a Mjlonir that Thor’s recalling to his hand. Her brief moment of contact made us wonder if she’d wield the hammer in battle one day. Every Marvel fan remembers where they were when they saw Steve use Mjolnir against Thanos. Since he pulled this off while he was going by a heroic Captain name, it would be awesome to see Peggy do the same. Both of them are heroes that were willing to give up everything to protect innocent lives. If Captain Carter’s around for her universe’s version of “Endgame”, we think there’s a strong chance we’ll see her fully wield the hammer.

Instead of trying to fight Zola and Killmonger for the Infinity stones, Strange-Supreme helps ensure both villains are trapped in a pocket dimension. The Watcher reminds the sorcerer that someone needs to constantly monitor those two. Before Strange-Supreme agreed to take on the solemn responsibility of watching them, he committed a lot of sinister acts. His journey has a few parallels to a Nick Fury comic plotline. After years of deception, assassinations and violent actions, Watchers sentence him to observe earth and start calling him “the Unseen”. Both Fury and Strange paid a price for what they did in the past. Hopefully, they can redeem themselves by continuing their lonely watching duties.

Gamora’s Infinity Crusher requires the Soul Stone to operate properly. After T'Challa steals it, Natasha intercepts the cosmic item. Eventually, the soul stone makes its way back to Gamora and into her awesome Infinity Crusher machine. Neither she nor Natasha got a chance to see this cosmic item in action in the MCU. Thanos tragically sacrificed Gamora to obtain it. And after going to retrieve the Soul Stone, Black Widow gave her life so Hawkeye could take it. Watching Natasha and Gamora casually handle the Soul stone was a beautiful reversal of their MCU stories. The cosmic item linked to the end of their lives in the past can now just be a small part of their long heroic journeys in the future.